Future of Smart Indian Lighting Industry

The Indian lighting industry is on a rapid growth path. The replacement of basic and inefficient incandescent, halogen, fluorescent lamps with modern LED lights will reduce electricity consumption. According to a report by ELCOMA, the lighting industry is expected to reduce energy consumption for lighting from the present 18% of total power consumption to 13% by 2020 by introducing more energy efficient products and working more closely with the government to execute various schemes and awareness programmes.

The Past That Has Been…

One of the biggest challenges that the lighting industry had faced was compatibility between control systems and LED fixtures because drivers needed special electronics. Now, with controls directly in the LED, you don’t have that compatibility issue. This is making it easier for homeowners to install smart lighting. Right out of the box, the fixtures can be installed as simply as replacing a bulb. It makes the process seamless.

The Present That Is…

According to MarketWatch, the millennial generation is at the forefront of the smart home revolution. In 2015, more than two-thirds of all adults aged 25 to 34 were living in wireless-only households. And according to a study by Nielsen, lighting control, at 70 percent, is the daily home automation feature most frequently used.

Smart lights appear on a short list of technologies beginning to appear on many buyers’ must-have lists because of its ability to improve security and comfort and cut electricity costs, according to MarketWatch. Smart lighting is just one piece of a total smart home revolution and is an easy entry point into the smart home. According to Gartner, it’s expected to continue growing to reach 2.54 billion units installed by 2020.

Switches and push-buttons, for example, have become redundant. Instead, motion sensors have arrived. The light will automatically switch on when you enter a room. This is very useful when you come home with your hands full of groceries. Another benefit of smart lighting: the lamps switch off automatically when a room is empty. That’s one way of reducing your electricity bill.

Smart lighting also offers more convenience in other ways. Such as a change in color if it starts to rain, so that you can bring in the washing in time. Or a light pulse to replace the doorbell when the children are asleep. The possibilities are endless.

Leading brands are paving the way with smart LED bulbs and switches that connect to Wi-Fi and offer app, button and voice controls over the positioning, brightness, warmth and color of connected bulbs. The major technology behind smart connected homes is IoT and according to Strategy Analytics, IoT growth is higher than ever, but annual growth will begin to tail off as the market normalizes in the near future, dropping to 9 percent by 2021.

In a study, it was found that most of the consumers are worried about security of the home while they’re away. Smart homes have a solution for this too. Lights that come on at certain times of day, indoor and outdoor, give the illusion that you’re home and create a more secure environment. There are multiple ways to customize this, too. As a homeowner drives up to their home, lights can come on with Geofencing, or they can remotely use an app to turn lights on. It can be as simple as having lights on a timer, too.

Currently, smart tech is adapting to seamlessly integrate into smart home systems. Bluetooth-enabled systems that don’t rely on internet need only the app and the fixture to operate. Even light switches may look completely different in 10 to 15 years. Homeowners are looking for a clean and sleek design. If you remove traditional light switches and replace them with a few smart home hubs that control multiple facets of a home, not just lighting, you can create a functional and efficient system.

…And The Future to Watch Out For

It is likely that the Indian lighting industry will continue to grow at a higher rate per annum, ranging between 13% and 15% until 2020. However, with a population of around 1.2 billion people, India is yet to provide electricity to around 0.3 billion people. If this section is connected to the grid, a further growth for the industry is on the cards.

On the home front, Smart wake-up and sleep lamps are the first step that tech companies have taken in using light to help consumers take their wellbeing into their own hands at home. Although research into using light and color for other purposes, like calming down, treating anxiety or aiding productivity is still limited – or needs to be applied in a very specific setting – researchers and tech companies will need to further switch on to this potential.

Andy Baxter at Philips Lighting predicts that the future of smart lighting is all about adapting to routines: “‘Human-centric lighting,’ where LED light can be tuned to positively help people, is likely to become a mainstream trend, whether it’s providing the optimum light setting to help someone to concentrate, energize or relax. It’s likely to be a hot topic in 2018 and beyond as businesses and consumers start to use it and the mental and physical benefits are explored in more depth.”

Trends to Watch Out For

Decentralized power generation

More than ever before, families are now producing electricity themselves, from solar panels. They are therefore less dependent on the power grid. That is also good news for the environment, because a photovoltaic installation produces green energy. This trend will continue to grow in the future, because the installation of solar panels is an interesting investment.

Lasers to replace LEDs

Scientists are continually looking for better lighting sources. Compared to LEDs, lasers provide the following benefits:

More compact than an LED diode

Produces up to 1000x more light

Consumes 1/3rd of the electricity

This technology is currently still in its infancy. But there are already some promising projects, such as the laser headlights of the BMW i8.

Smart city lights

Smart street lighting could dim itself on empty streets in order to save energy. Or change color at dangerous intersections. With smart street lighting, maintenance technicians will know immediately when a lamp is faulty. Repairs will therefore be much quicker.

It is also possible to enhance street lamps with:

Charging options for electric cars

Wi-Fi modules to provide pedestrians with Internet

Cameras to increase safety

Sensors to quickly find free parking spaces

Smart lighting is a catalyst for the smart home revolution. It not only provides ease of use with voice activation, but it can also create a sense of security and allow homeowners to customize the overall feel of their home.